Beta Review of Marek Pacynski’s Fi 103 Kit

This model is of the “Reichenberg” which was the piloted version of the Fi 103 (V1). The kit consists of 29 pieces occupying half of an A4 sheet. The stated scale is 1:50, but checking model overall length and wing span gives a scale of approx. 1:54. I am not sure whether this is a printer set up problem or not. No instructions are given, but there is a diagram showing the location of the parts on the completed model

Construction Procedure:
A semi gloss printer paper was used for the model as I thought the small parts and tight bends would be too difficult in card. When rolled and joined with the formers in place the parts are rigid enough for ease of handling and assembly. I am not certain that I understand how the fuselage is meant to be assembled. There is one former for each join so I assume that the former is meant to be half in and half out of each section. This seems to be an excellent method for achieving alignment but is beyond my present skill level. What I did was to make two of each former and fit one at each end of the fuselage sections, then join the sections. I made the circular formers to fit by trial and error using a pair of circle cutters and checking against the printed formers showed an excellent match.

With one exception all the parts had an excellent fit. The exception was the cockpit canopy and fairing. The rear of this is approx. 3.5mm wide while the location lines on the fuselage are approx. 6mm apart. Not knowing which is correct, I used the part as printed. There were no patterns for the pulse jet assembly, but as these are circular it was not difficult to produce them by trial and error. (I have a home made circle cutter which can be used down to about 3mm diameter.)

The camouflage pattern of the model was checked against various photos on the net , the various photos and the model all showed different schemes. Not knowing the correct scheme, I over painted the model with an ‘average’ scheme.

Overall Impressions:
The kit makes up into an unusual prototype. On a basis of 1-5, with 5 being the most difficult, I would rate this kit as between 2 and 3. There are not a lot of parts and the assembly is straightforward but some of the rolled parts like the nose cone and the exhaust tube are a bit small for my fingers. However I am happy with the result and plan to make another example. The assembly proved the parts to be accurate, and a couple of slight errors in the assembly are all mine.

John Baines
1 November 2000

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This page was created by:
Saul H. Jacobs M.Ed.
Avionics Specialist, United States Air Force (Retired)
Microcomputer Technology, Pima Community College (Retired)
Tucson Arizona